


Hate is a Strong Word

by kikikryslee



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Banter, Co-workers, First Kiss, Fluff, Hate to Love, M/M, Oblivious Harry, Office, but it's literally not haha, i want to tag this as
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-06-30 10:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15749790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikikryslee/pseuds/kikikryslee
Summary: "I’m fine,” Harry said. “Just, that guy over there. I kind of can’t stand him.”“Which one?” Perrie asked.“The one in the blue shirt, with the striped tie. His name’s Louis Tomlinson, and he’s the new regional manager.”“He doesn’t seem so bad. Why do you hate him so much?”“Hate is a strong word,” Harry answered. “But I really, really, really don’t like him.”---Or, the one where Perrie has a crush on Louis and Harry wants nothing to do with him. The fact that Louis stole Harry's job has absolutely nothing to do with it.





	Hate is a Strong Word

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainbowslovehl (Larrymateforlife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larrymateforlife/gifts).



> You have dedication, procrastination and one full free Sunday to thank for this fic's existence! Hahaha. Rainbowslovehl, this was a pinch hit and I'm so sorry this took so long! I have a lot of elements from your second prompt in here. It's not exact, but I think it's pretty close, and I hope you like it! 
> 
> Thank you to [Angela](https://yellowpantsharry.tumblr.com/) for reading through this so quickly for me! I can never express to you how much of a lifesaver you really are. 
> 
> If you don't know where the fic title is from, you'll find out later in the fic. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Hold the elevator!”

Harry rolled his eyes as someone squeezed into the already crowded elevator. He was running a few minutes late for work, so of course someone else was going to hold him up.

“Who else is going to the 11th floor?” the newcomer asked, seeing the button for 11 already lit up. “I’m heading there, too.”

“That’d be me,” said Liam, one of the regional managers that Harry knew worked on the floor above him.

“Me, too.” Niall, one of the other regional managers, raised his hand.

The elevator stopped to let someone off on the 4th floor.

“Nice to meet you gentlemen,” he said, shaking their hands. “I’m Louis Tomlinson. Looks like I’m the new guy around here.”

“Oh, so you’re the one taking Danny’s office?” Niall asked.

Louis grinned. “If Danny was the regional manager for the west, then yeah, that’s me.”

The elevator stopped again at the 6th floor, and Harry was fuming.

_ He  _ had applied for the very position Louis was talking about just over a month ago. After working in the building for two years, with six years of business experience before that, Harry knew he was excellent for the job and would do it well. But they had passed on him for someone with ‘more experience and a bigger world view,’ whatever the fuck that meant.

“Where are you from?” Liam asked. “You don’t sound like you’re from around here.”

“L.A.,” Louis answered.

_ Oh, that’s what ‘bigger world view’ means _ , Harry thought to himself.  _ He wasn’t from around here.  _ How that meant he’d be better for the job than Harry, he still didn’t understand.

The elevator stopped at the 9th floor. Only one more floor and Harry could be away from this conversation.

“And you chose to come across the country to work with us?” Niall asked in bewilderment. “Philly, of all places?”

Louis shrugged. “Well, you know, change is good… But the pay increase is even better.”

Louis, Niall and Liam laughed, while Harry rolled his eyes. How charming.

Finally, the elevator stopped at the 10th floor, and Harry kept his head down as he slid out.

As he walked to his desk, he couldn’t help but shake his head in annoyance at this Louis guy, unable to believe his arrogance on his first day of work, and he wasn’t even in his office yet. And this wasn’t even about Louis taking his job. Harry knew how to read people — you had to to work in business — and he knew Louis wasn’t going to be a good person to be around. After that encounter, Harry was absolutely certain of one thing: he absolutely, positively didn’t like Louis Tomlinson.

 

**Six Months Later**

 

“Do you think Louis’ gay?”

Harry almost spit out his coffee at Perrie’s unexpected question. As he coughed, he felt Perrie clap him a few times on the back.

The two of them stood by the water cooler, even though neither of them was getting water. The spot just happened to be close to the elevators, and it was a prime people-watching location.

“What?” he finally asked.

“Do you think Louis is gay?” Perrie repeated.

“I don’t fucking know.”

That was a lie. Harry absolutely knew Louis was gay, or at the very least, not straight. He thought it was pretty obvious to see, but apparently it wasn’t to Perrie, Harry’s friend and coworker.

“Do you think that’s why he hasn’t made a move yet?”

Ah, there it was. As much as Harry loved Perrie — as a friend and nothing more — it was frustratingly annoying how much Perrie seemed to love Louis, who Harry couldn’t stand.

Nearly every day, Perrie went on about how  _ blue  _ his eyes were and how  _ pretty  _ his hair was and how  _ funny  _ he was. Harry listened, because he was a good friend, but couldn’t get over just how wrong her opinions were.

Louis was just so…  _ overwhelming.  _ From the day Louis started working in the building six months ago, he’d rubbed Harry the wrong way. And no, it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Louis took Harry’s job. He was over it now and wasn’t bitter about it at all, no matter what Perrie said.

Harry and Louis had never actually spoken, but Harry could still tell he was annoying as hell. And conceited. And dramatic. And over-the-top.

He could still remember the first day Perrie had started working there, only a few weeks after Louis began. She and Harry had been in the lunchroom, and Louis came strolling in like he owned the place despite working there for such a short period of time. But hey, he was the shiny new manager, so everyone wanted a piece of him.

But his loud voice and even louder laugh had interrupted Harry’s conversation with Perrie so much that he started to get grumpier by the second. Perrie had actually reached a hand out and asked if he was all right.

 

_ “Yeah, I’m fine,” Harry said. “Just, that guy over there. I kind of can’t stand him.” _

_ “Which one?” Perrie asked. _

_ “The one in the blue shirt, with the striped tie. His name’s Louis Tomlinson, and he’s the new regional manager.” _

_ “He doesn’t seem so bad. Why do you hate him so much?” _

_ “Hate is a strong word,” Harry answered. “But I really, really, really don’t like him.” _

_ Perrie snorted. “OK… Why do you really, really, really dislike him?” _

_ “He just came in here as if he’s the most important person on the planet.” Harry didn’t bother wasting time easing into the rant he’d been building in his head for a while. “He only started a few weeks ago, and everyone treats him like he’s some hero coming to rescue us from despair. We’re one of the biggest companies in the country, and definitely the biggest on the east coast. We don’t need saving.” _

_ Perrie looked slowly between Harry and Louis, a serious look on her face. _

_ “Uh huh… And, has he done anything to personally hurt you?” _

_ Harry scrunched his face up. “What?” _

_ “You know, just want to know what kind of person I’m dealing with,” Perrie said. _

_ “Oh. Um, no, he hasn’t. He just-” _

_ “Rubs you the wrong way. Got it.” _

_ Harry glanced over at Louis, who was in the middle of telling some story to five other people. It must have been something very extreme, because his arms were waving all around and he displayed about three different emotions on his face in the span of about twenty seconds. _

_ A smack on the table made Harry jump. He looked away from Louis and towards Perrie, who was watching him carefully with one eyebrow raised. _

_ “What?” Harry asked. _

_ Perrie shrugged. She had a smirk on her face, and Harry was about to ask her why when Louis’ loud laugh sent chills up his spine like nails on a chalkboard. _

_ Man, he really didn’t like that guy. _

 

“Well you can find out if he is for me,” Perrie said, bringing Harry back to reality, “since you’ll soon be working on the same floor as him.”

Oh. Right.

Luckily for Harry, another regional manager quit, and his position - the one he’d been gunning for six months ago - became available.

Harry went through all the interviews and formalities, and just under two weeks ago was officially hired.

That meant he’d be moving to the next floor up. He’d get his own office, with a window, and a decent pay raise. Unfortunately that meant he’d be on the same floor as Louis. And he was pretty sure the guy he was replacing had the office right next to Louis.

So there was that to look forward to…

“Um, yeah, I’d love nothing more than to find out the sexuality of a guy I can’t stand,” Harry said sarcastically.

Perrie beamed. “I know you would. You know how I’m destined to marry him. You’ll be invited to the wedding, don’t worry.”

“Oh, goodie. Can’t wait.”

\---

On Monday morning, Harry hit the button for the 11th floor, feeling pride and excitement rush through him.

On Friday afternoon, he’d been told to get into his office and get settled and that his boss would be in to grab him at 10 to go over his new responsibilities.

He walked into the office and dropped a box of some of his belongings on his desk. He started pulling pictures out of the box and arranging them how he wanted them.

A few minutes later, a knock at the door grabbed his attention. He looked up and saw Louis, of all people, at the door with a big smile on his face.

“Hey,” Louis said. “Heard you were up here and just wanted to introduce myself.”

_ Of course  _ he was a part of the welcoming committee. Harry tried not to roll his eyes. Instead, he just stared at Louis, and he knew he probably looked pretty mean, but he didn’t really care.

Louis cleared his throat awkwardly before taking a few steps in with an extended hand.

“I’m Louis Tomlinson. Nice to meet you.”

Harry took Louis’ hand in his and gave it a firm shake. “Harry Styles,” he said stiffly.

He saw Louis’ smile falter a bit before he spoke again.

“Well, it’s good to have you here, Harry. Uh, if you need anything, feel free to reach out. We’re actually neighbors. I’m right next door, so don’t hesitate. And everybody around here is really nice and helpful, too.”

“Cool,” Harry said simply.

Louis raised an eyebrow, looking a bit lost for what to do next. Clearly, he wasn’t used to this kind of reaction from people. Harry tried not to smirk with pride.

“Well, um, I’ll let you finish getting settled in. Give me a shout if you need anything.”

“Yup. Thanks.”

Louis gave Harry a nod and then turned and walked out of the office.

Harry sighed. Great. Louis was right next door. Just fantastic.

\---

Louis walked right into Liam’s office and shut the door behind him.

“What?” Liam asked, not looking away from his computer as he typed.

“I think I pissed off the new guy somehow,” Louis told him.

“What new guy?”

Louis frowned. “The… new guy. Harry, the guy who just started today.”

“Harry’s not new,” Liam said, glancing at Louis for just a second. “He’s worked here for a while.”

“What?”

“Yeah, he’s on the floor below us. Or he was, anyway.”

“Oh. How did I not notice him?”

“Because you’re self-centered?” Liam suggested.

Louis walked up to Liam’s desk, reached over and flicked him on the ear.

“This isn’t funny!” Louis said as Liam just chuckled.

“It kind of is,” Liam told him. He sat back in his chair and watched Louis carefully. “You don’t like when people don’t like you, do you?”

“So you admit he doesn’t like me?”

“No. But you’re clearly worked up enough about it that you’re in here whining. Look, you probably said something stupid around him and he thinks you’re a moron.”

“Thanks?”

“Louis, you have to admit you’re a lot to deal with.”

“I do?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “I’m saying this all with love, I promise.”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Louis grumbled.

“All I’m saying is, he probably just hasn’t realized how cool and funny and awesome you are.”

“Ahh, there it is.” Louis grinned. “Don’t stop now; keep the ego boosts coming.”

Liam just stared. “That’s the something stupid I was talking about.” He returned to typing on his computer.

“I’m gonna get him to like me,” Louis decided.

“Please don’t.”

“I will. And soon we’ll be best friends. You’ll see.”

“I can’t wait. Send me an invitation to your friendship ceremony where you promise to be each other’s wingman at the bar every weekend and braid each other’s hair at sleepovers.”

“When did you become so sarcastic?” Louis asked as he started to walk out of the office.

“I don’t know; must be an influence of the most sarcastic person I know. Gee, I wonder who that could be.”

“I don’t like you anymore.”

“Good! Then you can stay out of my office while I’m working.”

“You and I both know that if I didn’t like you, I would spend  _ way _  more time in your office, just to annoy you.”

Liam sighed. “You’re right.”

“I know. See you at lunch today. I’ll save you a spot next to me.”

“Oh, goodie.”

As Louis finally walked out of Liam’s office, he saw Harry walking out of his own.

“Hi, Harry,” Louis called over, even adding a wave.

Harry looked at him with wide eyes, before looking around the main floor, seeing if anyone else had noticed. Harry gave him a quick nod before walking over to the copier.

Louis pursed his lips. This might be harder than he thought.

\---

“Hi, Harry.”

Harry tried not to sigh audibly as Louis walked up to his table during his lunch break.

“Hi, Louis.”

“Hey, if you want, you can sit over there with me, Niall and Liam. They’re the other regional managers, so you could get to know your new team.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, I already know Liam and Niall. We’ve met a few times before.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Louis stood there uncomfortably for a moment before saying, “Well, you can still eat with us if you want to. We’re just over there.”

“Thanks, but I’m waiting for a friend. She should be here in a minute.”

“Oh. OK, well I’ll see you around then.”

“Probably. We work on the same floor,” Harry said.

Louis nodded and smiled. “Right. Um, see you.”

He walked away then and Harry immediately felt himself relax.

Just seconds later, though, Perrie came running up to the table. “Was that Louis?” she asked as she sat down. “Why was he here?”

“He was just saying ‘hello,’ Perrie,” Harry told her.

“Is that all? Did he want to sit here or something? Because he can, even though you would hate it.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“You know what I mean. He’s so pretty to look at, isn’t he? Like, his gorgeous tan-”

“ _ Fake  _ tan,” Harry muttered.

“And his confidence-”

“Arrogance.”

“And his eyelashes.”

Harry paused. “His what?”

“His eyelashes,” Perrie repeated. “Like you’ve never noticed.”

“I haven’t.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“Is that something you notice in people?”

“When they’re as beautiful as his? Yeah, I do.”

Curious, Harry looked over at Louis, and even from multiple tables away, he could admit that Louis did have really nice eyelashes. They were long and perfectly spread out. And when he looked down, they very prettily fanned across his cheeks. Harry wondered if he did anything to them or if they were just naturally like that.

Perrie cleared her throat once Harry was staring too long.

Harry turned back to look at her. “What?” he asked. “Had to see if you were right.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

\---

Harry got through his first week with great success. As the regional manager for the entire northeast, he had daily meetings with Louis, who managed the west, Niall, who oversaw the midwest and Liam, who was in charge of the south, to go through the sales for their areas. If they noticed any trends of decreasing profits, they brainstormed together to figure out how best to improve.

They also had weekly meetings with the general manager to update her on the status of their sales. Each manager was responsible for holding meetings with his own team of supervisors who overlooked different parts of the business: advertising, public relations, accounting, etc.

It was a lot of work, and Harry wasn’t used to having people reporting to him on a daily basis, but it was… awesome. He loved every second of it, and he had a great team working below him and a great team working with him.

On Friday night, as he was about to shut down his computer and go home, he looked up to see Louis walking in.

“Don’t stay too late,” he said.

“I’m not. I should be leaving in a few, actually.”

“Good, good. Uh, how was your first week?”

“Uh, great, honestly,” Harry answered. “It’s a lot more work than I’m used to, with a lot more people asking me questions than I’m used to, but I really like it.”

“Good. Good,” Louis said. “Well, I’ll see you on Monday. Have a good weekend.”

“You, too.”

Louis took a quick look around the room before heading out.

Harry frowned and glanced around his office, too, now paranoid at whatever Louis was looking for. He didn’t notice anything out of place.

_ Weird,  _ Harry thought to himself. He shut down his computer and gathered his things, ready to head home and start it all again on Monday.

\---

When Harry returned to his office after the weekend, he stopped in the doorway to see a  [ bouquet ](https://fyf.tac-cdn.net/images/products/large/BF82-11K.jpg)  of flowers on his desk.

“Wow,” he said, caught off guard by how pretty the flowers were. He knew there were sunflowers and lilies in the bouquet, but he didn’t immediately remember the names of the other ones.

He walked over to his desk and grabbed the card that went with the flowers, eager to see who would send him something so wonderful.

All it said was, ‘Welcome to the team!’ and had a smiley face with x’s for eyes as a signature.

Harry flipped the card over, even more confused now.

He heard a knock at the door and turned to see Louis standing there.

“I hope you like them,” Louis said.

Harry looked from Louis to the flowers and then back. “These are from you?”

“Yeah. I noticed on Friday that you don’t have any flowers in here, and you seem like someone who would like to have flowers in his office.”

“Thank you. Um… this was really sweet.”

“You’re welcome. Yeah, I figured you could probably also keep them alive longer than I ever could. I’m sort of a serial plant-killer.”

“Yeah, my neighbor has the same problem,” Harry said, leaning back against his desk. “She’s 9.”

Louis just stood there. Harry could tell he was trying to figure out how to respond best.

The look on his face was kind of adorable, and Harry took pity on him, so he just smiled.

“Oh,” Louis said, noticing Harry’s grin. “You’re teasing me.”

“I am. I mean, I do have a neighbor who’s 9, but I don’t think she’s ever been responsible for any plants. So I can’t speak to her plant-killing ability, to be honest.”

“Well if you find out about it, let me know. I need to know if I’m the worst with plants.”

“Will do.”

Louis smiled. “OK. Well, um, I’ll see you at the meeting.”

“Sounds good.”

Louis left the office and Harry looked back at the card he still held in his hands. He was confused at what Louis was doing, but at least he got some beautiful flowers out of whatever his plan was.

\---

“Flowers were a hit,” Louis said, walking into Liam’s office.

“That’s great. I mean, you could just talk to him like a normal person. Harry is pretty cool.”

“I know. But I can still sense he doesn’t like me.”

“He probably doesn’t trust you,” Liam pointed out. “You know, since you’re now sending random gifts. He’s smart enough to know there’s an ulterior motive.”

“One gift,” Louis said. “I’ve sent him one gift. Stop making me sound like a stalker.”

“You’ve sent him one gift for now. What are you thinking of next?”

“I’m not thinking of anything else.”

“Whatever you’re thinking of, can it be something he can share with the rest of us?” Liam asked, ignoring Louis’ sentence. “Edible arrangements are always a hit, you know.”

“Wow, only thinking of yourself, huh, Liam? How selfish.”

Liam shrugged. “If I have to listen to this insanity, I might as well get something out of it. If you really want Harry to like you, just be normal. No extra stuff necessary.”

Louis nodded. “Normal. Got it. I can do that.”

\---

Harry walked into the cafeteria and saw Louis standing at the table where Perrie was sitting. He had his hands in his pockets and she was smiling and laughing at something he was saying. They looked cute together, Harry could admit. They might make a nice couple if Perrie actually did something about her little crush.

He stood there awkwardly for a minute, not sure if he should go over and sit down as normal and be a total cockblock, or just wait until Louis walked away.

Thankfully, he only had to wait another minute before Louis left.

“Good for you, talking to Louis,” Harry said teasingly as he sat down.

“Huh?”

“You were talking to Louis. I’m impressed. Usually when I like somebody I can’t get two words out in front of them.”

“Oh. Right!” Perrie said. “Yeah, you know I just… did it. You know, no hesitation.”

“What were you talking about?”

“Well, we wound up on the elevator together this morning, and someone let out a loud fart. There were like, ten people in there, so I couldn’t tell who it was, but it was still really funny.”

Harry laughed. “Was it really smelly?”

“No, thank God. That would’ve been a terrible way to start my day.”

“I would’ve went home.”

“You would not have!” Perrie said.

“No, but I would’ve thought about it.”

“Oh, speaking of work, it’s been a week working with Louis. How is it? Do you love it? I would love it if I was up there.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, I guess.” Harry thought about telling her about the flowers, but decided not to, not wanting her to read too much into it.

“Just fine? Is he really as bad as you thought he was?”

“I don’t really talk to him much outside of meetings, to be honest. But he’s not as loud when he’s working, so that’s good.”

“See?” Perrie asked. “You’re already changing your opinion about him. That’s good. I would hate for you to really, really, really dislike my future husband.”

Harry laughed. “Oh, yes. Heaven forbid. But it has only been a week. He could turn out to be worse than I thought.”

“Not likely. I think you’ll actually be friends soon.”

Harry shook his head. “Now  _ that’s  _ unlikely.”

\---

“Hold the elevator!” Harry yelled, running inside his office building. The security guard waved him through, knowing him well enough after two years to not bother checking his ID.

Harry saw someone stick their hand in between the elevator doors and relief flowed through him.

Then he saw it was Louis on the elevator, and, well, he expected to feel more disappointment at that. But where he usually would’ve felt annoyed at having to ride the elevator with Louis, he now felt, well, not happiness or excitement, but more nonchalance. He found that he didn’t mind that it was Louis, which was an interesting development.

“Good morning,” Louis said, stepping back to make room for Harry.

“Morning,” Harry replied breathlessly.

“You’re a fast runner.”

“Luckily. I hate being late.”

Louis nodded. “Don’t worry, we should be fine.”

“OK,” Harry said. “Um, thanks for holding the elevator.”

“No problem. I know you’d do the same for me.”

Harry tried not to laugh at that, considering the first time he was ever around Louis was the day someone held the elevator for him and Harry had felt pure annoyance.

“Uh, yeah. Absolutely.”

What Louis didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

\---

One Monday afternoon, Harry knocked on Niall’s door.

“Hey, you got a second?”

“Yeah, man, come on in.”

Harry sat down on the couch against the wall. “How do you increase sales?”

Niall snorted. “Kind of a broad question, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but… It’s just that I’ve been looking over my sales for the last few months, and they’ve been increasing, but they’re not where they were last winter.”

“Nobody’s sales are what they were last winter. You remember the scandal.”

Last fall, it had been discovered that someone on the board of directors had been quietly stealing from the company for almost four months. Naturally, it garnered a lot of press, resulting in the person quitting and narrowly avoiding jail time. Stock plummeted, sales dropped and a lot of people feared for their jobs.

Eventually, they’d managed to come back from it, but it had still been a very difficult time.

“So you’re worried about numbers?” Niall asked. “What are they now compared to a year ago?”

“Well last June was around 330 million dollars. Right now, I’m at 333.”

“So you’ve improved from this time last year? That’s good. How about the last six months?”

“Well, in January, it was almost at 310. So we’ve gone from 310 million dollars a month to 333 since then.”

“Hey, that’s something,” Niall told him. “I’m about to hit 340 for my monthly total.”

“Yeah, but that’s where you’re supposed to be.”

“And you’re not far behind. You can’t get hung up on something like seven million dollars.”

“Don’t let Jamie hear you say that,” Harry warned, talking about their boss.

Niall waved him off. “Whatever. She loves me. The point is, you can’t let something like this make you think you’re not doing all you can. I mean, Louis’ always at the top of sales. He makes like, 347 no problem. But I don’t get hung up on it because we have different demographics in our regions. It happens.”

“OK,” Harry said, still not sure of himself.

“But, if you want some help, there is something I’ve noticed about the Northeast.”

“What is it?”

“If I tell you, it’ll require you to change your advertising. Are you willing to do that?”

Harry nodded.

“OK then. Listen up.”

\---

Harry sat in his office, looking through his reports one more time. It was Wednesday, so he and the boys were about to have their weekly meeting with Jamie, the general manager.

Harry just knew she wasn’t going to be pleased with him. She wasn’t going to be happy with where his sales were. Obviously, as his superior, she was always going to be pushing him and wanting to see more work from him, but sometimes, she came off a bit harsh.

“Hey, you ready?” Louis asked, leaning into the room.

“Uh, yeah.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.”

“Sure, that’s why your hands are shaking like leaves in the wind.” Louis rolled his eyes. “If it’s work stuff, I can help.”

“I know, just… It’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb if it makes you feel this nervous. You’ve done these meetings before; what’s different about this one?”

Harry sighed. “Jamie’s gonna be pissed.”    


“Why?”

“My sales are the lowest out of the four of us. And, they’ve been getting better but Niall pulled three percent more than me last month.”

“So what?” Louis asked. “You said it yourself, your sales have been getting better. That’s a good thing.”

“It’s not enough, though.”

“Harry, you can’t doubt yourself like that. And you’re smart, so I’m sure you have a plan to fix it.” He added quickly, “Not that there’s anything to fix, of course.”

Harry nodded. “I do. Uh, Niall and I were talking on Monday about it and we came up with something, but-”

“So tell that to Jamie if she asks,” Louis said quietly. “She’ll like that you have a plan about something that’s really not an issue.”

“OK.”

“Come on. I’ll walk in with you if it’ll help.”

“OK.”

Louis waited for Harry to grab his papers before exiting the office. Before they walked into the conference room where Jamie, Niall and Liam were already waiting, Harry touched Louis’s arm and said, “Thank you.”

Louis smiled. “You’re welcome.”

They entered the room and Jamie gave them a quick glance. “There you boys are. Now we can get started. Liam, do you want to begin?”

The meeting went pretty quickly, as the other men didn’t have too much to update Jamie on, as their sales were high enough and their regions were in solid conditions. When it was Harry’s turn, he felt his heart immediately start racing.

He told Jamie about the amount of product his region had been moving, and was about to update her on the renovations in their New York branch when she interrupted him.

“Tell me about your sales,” Jamie said.

Harry halted. “My sales?”

“Yes. They’re down, aren’t they?”

“No.”

“Harry, let’s talk about it, OK?” Jamie asked, sitting forward in her seat. “Our company made 16.5 billion dollars last year. If you do the math, that’s a little more than four billion per region, and about 340 million dollars a month. Last month, your region pulled in 333 million. The other regions hit the 340 mark, why didn’t you?”

“We’re different regions,” Harry said simply. “We have different customer appeals, different competition from smaller companies particular to certain areas-”

“Harry, just tell me why your sales are down.”

“My sales are not down!” Harry insisted. “In fact, they’ve been moving up consistently over the last few months.”

“But they’re not where they should be for this time of year.”

“Actually, if you look at the figures for last year’s sales, we’re slightly above the mark.”

“Last year?” Jamie asked. “Last year? Harry, the point of a business is to always be growing, otherwise we might as well pack up our shit now and go home.”

“We’re not going anywhere.  _ I’m  _ not going anywhere, because my region  _ is  _ growing. At the start of the year, sales were hovering around 310 million a month and the year is only halfway done. If that continues, I’ll be well above that 340 mark when the year lets out.”

“If. If? You’re happy with 'if'?”

“No, I’m not, which is why I do have a plan to increase our profit and bring in, hopefully, an additional 5-10 million monthly.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow. “Well, I do like plans. Tell me this genius plan.”

Harry glanced across the table at Niall, who gave him a quick nod.

He took a deep breath and said, “Well, the Northeast consumers overall are faster paced than the other regions, but after looking more into it, we decided that our advertising is too much. Not the amount, but the length, the wordiness. Our television advertising can be cut from 30-second commercials to 20. Billboards need less words and more pictures of what we can do. People in this region are always moving and any chance we have to reach them needs to be quick, straight to the point and attention-grabbing. I’ll be meeting with my ad team later today and I’ll have suggestions for you by next week.”

Harry finished his pitch and waited anxiously for Jamie’s response.

She was staring at him, one index finger resting on her pursed lips.

“Fine,” she finally said.

Harry felt all the air leave his body in a huff. That was nerve-wracking, to say the least.

“Have your ideas on my desk by Tuesday so we can discuss it more at our meeting on Wednesday.”

With that, Jamie stood up from her chair and exited the room. As she left, she called over her shoulder, “Tuesday!”

“Tuesday!” Harry called back.

As soon as she was gone, he dropped his head to the desk and groaned.

“Nice job, Harry,” Liam said.

Louis, who was sitting next to him, clapped him on the back. “You did good.”

“I told you it would work,” Niall said.

“Thanks, boys.”

“You’re welcome. You want to get an early lunch today? I’m feeling tense for some reason.”

“Tense?” Harry asked, sitting up. “Well, I don’t understand why.”

They laughed and stood up, leaving the room as well.

“Told you you could do it,” Louis told him.

“You did. Thanks again, Louis.”

“Any time.”

Harry went back into his office and sat down at his desk, taking a deep breath. Thankfully that had worked out, thanks mostly to Niall helping him come up with his plan, and Louis for his pep talk before the meeting started.

Speaking of, that had been really nice of Louis to do. He didn’t have to; he could’ve just let Harry struggle and then swoop in with something to help in front of Jamie.

But he didn’t. Over the last few weeks, Harry started to realize that maybe he’d been wrong about Louis and his arrogance level, which was nearly non-existent. He was very confident in his abilities, but he was undeniably a team player, and did want everyone to succeed. Definitely attractive qualities in a person.

He understood now where Perrie was coming from with all of her gushing. Didn’t mean he still liked hearing it, though.

\---

That night, Harry sat at the bar down the street from his office building with Niall, Liam and Louis.

Even though they’d taken an early lunch, Liam had also suggested getting a drink so Harry could celebrate the first time having to really stand up to his boss.

“To standing your ground,” Liam said.

“To standing your ground,” the others cheered. They clinked their glasses and tossed back the shots Niall had just bought them.

“I’m getting the next round,” Louis said, standing up.

“I’ll go with you,” Harry offered. “I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

“With how gargantuan they are, I’m not surprised,” Louis joked.

“Hey!”

They walked up to the bar and stood next to each other, waiting for the bartender to come back from getting more beer from the store room.

“So how was your meeting with your ad team?” Louis asked.

“Great,” Harry answered. “Honestly. They’re really good at what they do, so we had a few ideas within a half hour that we want to pursue. I’ll go see them again tomorrow and see how we can follow through.”

“That’s good! Really good! Like I said, Jamie likes to see you with a plan, so it was good you had that.”

“Nah, thank Niall for it. Otherwise, she probably would’ve yelled at me until I ran out of the room crying.”

“I wouldn’t have let her get that far,” Louis told him. “Honestly, part of me was about to tell her to back off. But you didn’t need me.”

“I didn’t, but, thank you. That’s really nice to hear.”

“Of course.”

Just then, the bartender came over to them and Louis asked for another round of their drinks.

“So how long did you work in business out in L.A.?” Harry asked.

“Uh, well I got a job right out of school, and was there for three years, and I was with my last company for five years. I left because I got a new boss who didn’t understand the importance of family.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I had a family reunion in Colorado, where I’m from, and the boss before had already approved the time off. But then this new asshole came in and tried to tell me I couldn’t go because a week away was too much. So I left.”

“Wow,” Harry said. “Uh, wow.”

The bartender came by with the drinks and Louis paid her with cash.

“Yeah. It was awful. But at least I got to go to the reunion and see my brother and sisters. And my mom, of course.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“Six.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” Louis said, smiling. “I’m the oldest.” He pulled out his cell phone and brought up a picture.

“That’s them?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. My mom’s in the middle, and that’s my stepdad.”

“They’re beautiful,” Harry told him. “All of them, honestly.”

“Don’t build their egos up any more, please.”

Harry laughed and handed back the phone.

“So how about you?” Louis asked. “You’ve been with this company for a few years, right?”

“Two, yeah.” Harry took a sip of his beer. “Six years before this with other companies. This is the biggest one I’ve been with.”

“That’s what he said.”

Harry burst into laughter, so hard that he was convinced beer was going to come out his nose.

“That was gross,” Harry said.

Louis shrugged. “You still thought it was funny.”

“I did. But yeah. Two years here.”

Louis nodded.

“Can I tell you something?” Harry asked.

“Sure.”

“I actually applied for your job.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Obviously I didn’t get it.”

Louis was quiet for a moment. He finally asked, “Is that why you hated me when we first met?”

“I didn’t hate you.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “OK.”

“I didn’t hate you. I didn’t like you, though.”

Louis grinned. “Knew it.”

“That may have played a small part in it. I thought you were really obnoxious, too.”

“Eh, I’ve heard that before.”

“You were just so confident and it was your first day. I don’t know, it just bothered me.”

Louis snorted. “Please. My stomach was in such knots that first day I was sure I was going to throw up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Louis laughed. “My mom always taught me to fake it til I make it, so that’s what I did. Maybe I went a little overboard at first.”

“Maybe.”

“But what’s the verdict now? I mean, we’ve been working together for a few weeks. Do you still dislike me?”

Harry shrugged.

“Is that a yes?”

Harry shrugged again.

“Oh, now you’re just being mean.”

Harry chuckled. “Nah, I don’t still dislike you.”

“Cool.”

“It really bothers you when people don’t like you, huh?”

“Maybe.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to roll his eyes.

“OK, fine. It does. It kind of sucks,” Louis admitted.

“I understand. Well, rest assured. I like you now. I might even consider us friends.”

Louis clapped his hand on the bartop. “Hot damn!”

Harry started laughing. “You’re fucking weird.”

“But you consider us friends. What does that say about you?”

Before Harry could answer, Niall yelled across the room, “Hey! Can you bring us our drinks? It’s been like, an hour.”

“It’s been five minutes, Niall, calm down,” Louis shot back. He grabbed his and Niall’s drink and headed back for the table, anyway. Harry followed him with his own drink and Liam’s, too.

“Here you go,” Harry said.

“About time,” Niall said. “I was feeling dehydrated over here.”

“And a drink with tequila in it is going to help?” Liam asked skeptically, looking at the glass in front of Niall.

“You don’t know how my body works, Payno.”

“And I hope I never do.”

Louis and Harry looked at each other across the table and just rolled their eyes.

\---

That night, as Louis lay in bed, he pulled out his phone to quickly text Liam before he fell asleep.  

**_Louis: he said he considers us friends now! Ha! Told you!_ **

**_Liam: i’m so excited for you. Do you want a gold star?_ **

**_Louis: fuck you_ **

**_Liam: =)_ **

\---

“What are you doing?” Harry asked, walking into Louis’ office on Friday.

“Working hard,” Louis replied.

“No, really.”

Louis smiled. “Honestly, I’m just staring at this computer screen, trying to work some more, but it’s already 5:30, and I kind of just want to leave.”

“So leave.”

“Why are you still here?”

“Saw the light on.” Harry shrugged. “Figured I’d just bother you for a bit.”

“Trust me, I like distractions. Most of the time.”

“Right,” Harry said. “Except for the times when you’re actually working.”

“Right. And we all know that’s few and far between.”

Harry smiled.

“Have any plans for the weekend?” Louis asked, sitting back in his computer chair.

“Nothing big,” Harry told him. He took a seat in the armchair by Louis’ desk. “My mom’s coming over on Sunday, though, so I’ll probably clean up.”

“Ah, cleaning up just because Mom is coming over. I understand that very well.”

“Yup. I mean, I’m not sloppy, but not everything is as neat as I know she likes, so…”

“No, I get it. I’m not a total mess, either, but my version of mess is totally different from hers.”

“Exactly!” Harry agreed. “Like, sorry, Mom, for the breakfast dishes still in the sink, but I haven’t been home all day. My bad.”

Louis laughed. “Does your mom want your bed to be made every single day? Like, come on, I’m just going to sleep in it again tonight. Why do I have to tuck the sheets all back in? It’s not a hotel.”

“I know! Why waste the effort on something like that? At least everything is clean and I don’t have a rodent problem. Let’s focus on the positives, Mom.”

Louis chuckled. “I do love my mom, though.”

“Me, too. She’s one of my best friends.”

“Same here. People think it’s weird when I say that.”

“I don’t know why,” Harry said. “I mean, she’s been there since the day I was born.”

Louis nodded. “That was deep, man.”

“That’s what he said.”

Louis burst into laughter. Harry started laughing just because of Louis’ reaction. His head was thrown back against his chair and he had a hand on his stomach as his shoulders shook.

“On that note, I think it’s time to go home.”

“Agreed.” Harry stood up. “I’ll see you on Monday, Lou.”

“Have a good weekend, H.”

“You, too.”

As Harry walked back to his office, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about how the two of them now had nicknames for each other.

When that started, he wasn’t totally sure. But he did know that he didn’t totally hate it.

\---

“I think I’m going to ask Louis out.”

Harry stilled, his forkful of pasta halfway up to his mouth.

“How do you think I should do it?”

“Um, Perrie…”

“I think he’d like something kind of calm, you know?” Perrie said, thinking out loud. “Like, as big as his personality is, I don’t think he’d want some huge romantic gesture. Something simple.”

“Uh, right…”

Harry didn’t know how to explain the feeling he had in his stomach. He knew it wasn’t indigestion: he ate pasta for lunch all the time. And he was drinking water, so it wasn’t like it was a weird combination that wasn’t agreeing with him.    
“Do you think he’d think a secret admirer kind of thing would be weird?” Perrie asked.

“Um…”  

Harry liked Louis now, so it’s not like he’d be a bad guy for Perrie to go out with, and she’d been talking about him for so long, it was kind of surprising that it had taken this long for her to make a real move.

“Maybe I’ll send him flowers.”

“Don’t!” Harry suddenly said.

“What?” Perrie asked, frowning. “Why?”

“Uh, well, he uh, told me that he’s bad at keeping flowers alive, so, flowers might not be the best idea.”

Perrie gasped. “You’re the best. Like, a literal genius. You just saved me from doing something that would be unappreciated. You really have my back, Harry.”

“Right. Of course I do.”

Perrie smiled. “It’s OK. We’ll figure something out. I’m sure between us we can think of something good for Louis.”

“Yeah,” Harry said slowly. “Yeah, sounds good.”

\---

For about a week, Harry avoided Perrie like the plague, claiming he was suddenly busy with work. He stayed in his office during lunch, only coming out for meetings and bathroom breaks. He just didn’t know what was wrong with him, why he didn’t want to help Perrie figure out how to ask out Louis. He should’ve been happy. Now the two of them might start dating and he wouldn’t have to hear her gushing all the time. Or… the gushing would get worse because of how happy she’d become.

Yeah, that had to be it, why he didn’t want to help Perrie: because the gushing would only get worse.

_ That’s it,  _ Harry thought to himself. He held onto that thought for the rest of the day, although he didn’t really believe it any more by the time he went home that night.

\---

It hit Harry like a truck the next day. He was just sitting in his managers’ meeting. Louis was next to him, doodling a little smiley face with x’s for eyes. Liam said something funny; Harry couldn’t even remember what it was. Louis laughed and then, that was it.

_ I could kiss you right now _ , Harry thought to himself. And that threw him for a loop because, sure he thought Louis was attractive, but never before thought about kissing him.

That was new.

For the rest of the day, Harry was distracted by his new revelation, even though he probably should’ve seen it coming. Over the last two months in his position, he’d gone from not wanting to be in the same room as Louis to seeking Louis out for the littlest things.

Just the other day, he’d gone into Louis’ office to ask his opinion of Harry’s tie, asking if it looked ‘too shiny.’

Harry shook his head. Yeah, he definitely liked the guy. A few months ago, he never would’ve believed it.

“Shit,” Harry whispered to himself. As if realizing he had a crush on his coworker wasn’t enough to deal with, he just remembered something he had to do now.

He had to tell Perrie.

\---

He figured it would be best to just rip the band-aid off, so to speak, the next day at lunch.

“I have to tell you something,” Harry said.

Perrie looked at him, frowning. “OK. What’s the matter?”

“I like Louis. Please don’t be mad. I know how much you like him, and I promise I won’t do anything about it because of that, but I like him. Like,  _ like  _ him. I’m sorry.”

Perrie stared at him for a moment before sighing in relief. “Oh, thank  _ God _ !”

“Huh?” Harry asked. This was not the reaction he was expecting.

“Good grief, Harry, I like the guy enough, but I don’t like him  _ that  _ much. He’s clearly gay, anyway.”

“Well duh, obviously.”

“But like, when I got here, you seemed so hell-bent on not liking him, but it was pretty obvious you did.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It was, babe,” Perrie said, nodding her head. “Trust me. Your words came out like you didn’t like him, but the heart eyes and the nitpicking over the same three traits over and over again made it clear you had a little crush. I thought I’d take it upon myself to help you see that.”

“So you were playing me this whole time?” Harry asked. “That’s what you’re saying?”

“Yup! I’m glad you finally figured your shit out, though, because there’s a new girl named Jade who just started a few days ago, and I’ve been dying to tell you about her.”

Harry laughed. “I can’t believe you.”

“You love me. And Louis.”

“OK, let’s not say that ‘L’ word just yet.”

“Fine, not yet. But it’s just a matter of time.”

\---

For the next few days, Harry got quiet around Louis, not knowing how to talk to him now. He felt like every time he opened his mouth in Louis’ presence, there was the chance of his true feelings falling out, and he didn’t know if he wanted to tell Louis how he felt.

He was pretty sure Louis was single, but what if he wasn’t? What if he had a boyfriend that he just didn’t talk about at work? And what if Harry wasn’t Louis’ type? God, that would be embarrassing, too.

Harry had never been great at making the first move, and this was no different, especially since they worked together. How did Harry know Louis would even want to date a coworker? Would that make it weird at work?

But it was already weird. He could sense it, and he was pretty sure Louis could, too. Hell, maybe even Liam and Niall did.

The obvious solution was to talk to Louis, but with all the scenarios of what  _ could _  actually happen, Harry talked himself out of that real quick.

It looked like doing nothing was what he would be doing for the time being.

A week later, Harry was sitting at his desk, going over the latest marketing reports. He heard his door close and he looked up.

“What’s the matter?” Louis asked, sitting down in the chair in front of Harry’s desk.

“What do you mean?”

“Cut the shit. You know what I mean. You’re going back to how you were when you first started. You’re not talking to me — and when you do, I get one-word answers — you won’t look me in the eye and I feel like you’re about to snap at me at any moment. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Then don’t believe me!” Harry shot back. “I don’t care.”

“Another lie. Nice.”

“Shut up.”

“Tell me what’s wrong!”

“I did. Nothing.”

“So you hate me?” Louis asked. “That’s what it is, right?”

“No! Of course not. Hate is a strong word.”

“But you really, really, really don’t like me? OK,  [ Plain White T’s ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpBjJ0dp2mc) , let’s cool it with the 2007 emo, OK?”

Harry was surprised. “You knew that reference?”

“Of course I did. Who wouldn’t?”

Harry sighed.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong now?”

“Um… Well, what you think about the situation, it’s the opposite.”

Louis stared at him for a moment. Harry could actually see the thoughts Louis was having flash across his face because of how expressive he was.

“Wait, so…?

“I kind of like you. As more than a friend. I  _ like you _ , like you.”

Louis kept staring. Then he finally said, “Ah, and now a  [ Hey Arnold! ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLJ4pvDmZzE)  reference. Keeping me on my toes now, Harold.”

Harry started laughing before dropping his head into his hands. “I didn’t even realize I was making that one,” he finally said.

“Accidental pop culture references are the mark of a great human being, honestly,” Louis told him. “So I guess since you’re Arnold right now, I’ll be Helga instead of Lila and say, Harry, I  _ like you  _ like you, too.”

Harry slowly peeked an eye up. “No, you don’t.”

“I do, actually.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Harry couldn’t hide his smile as he picked his head all the way up.

Louis smiled back.

“Are you busy on Saturday?”

“I think I’m free,” Louis said. “But only if I can kiss you right now. I’ve always wanted to do that in an office, honestly.”

“Get over here, then.”

Louis stood up and walked around the side of the desk. Harry moved his chair back and turned it so he was facing Louis.

He watched Louis quickly lick his lips and then slowly lean down. He put his hands on the armrests of Harry’s chair and brought his face close to Harry’s. He didn’t kiss him yet, though. Louis stared carefully into Harry’s eyes and glanced down to Harry’s pink lips.

Harry heard himself shakily exhale as he licked his lips, too. He tilted his chin up, bringing his mouth closer to Louis’. He was so close he could see the twinkle of excitement in Louis’ eyes, and the little crinkles on the corners of them.

Before he could make any more observations, he felt Louis kissing him. He was left breathless for just a moment before he kissed back against Louis’ soft lips. 

Their mouths moved together seamlessly, like they were tired of being apart. It was perfect, Harry thought as he moved his hand up to cup Louis’ cheek.

Louis pecked him on the lips twice more before pulling his face back. He wasn’t able to hide his smile and honestly, Harry wasn’t, either.

“Well I can check that off my bucket list,” Louis joked.

Harry snorted and started laughing.

“Glad I could help.”

Louis leaned in and kissed Harry sweetly one more time. “I should probably get to work.”

“You really should. You’re really distracting.”

“Surprisingly, you’re not the first person who’s told me that.”

“That is surprising.”

Louis grinned. “I’ll see you later.”

“Well, we’re neighbors. Of course you will.”

Louis winked and left the office, leaving Harry to sit back in his chair with a huge grin on his face.

Life sure had a funny way of working out.

Six months ago, ‘hate’ had been a strong word for Harry to use, but who knew? Maybe in another six months, he could use another strong word to describe his relationship with Louis: ‘love.’

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! Thank you for reading! 
> 
> This fic was written for this prompt: Harry doesn't like his friend's (male or female is fine) gushing about a cute guy (ie Louis) since he's tired of it. But slowly, he's more annoyed when his friend starts complimenting Louis and asking him ways to ask him out since he has grown to like Louis as well. Harry and Louis one day start to either work together or are put together on some project, either way they work together now and Harry's crush starts to grow and he doesn't know whether to ask Louis out himself or help his friend win over Louis.
> 
> <3


End file.
